Guard for grates



W. 8. BOARD.

GUARD FOR GRATES. APFLICAHON FILED FEB. I. 1922.

1,430,488. I Pmmse tfzs, 192g,

mm Hll //V VE/V TOR ATTORNEYS Patented fiept. 26, 1922.

WILLIAM SANFORD BOARD, OF PL'YIiIOUTH, WEST VIRGINIA.

enann roe snares.

Application filed February 1, 1922. Serial No. 533,406.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WVILLIAM SANFORD BOARD, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Plymouth, in the county o Putnam and State of West Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Guards for Grates, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in grates of the type installed in fire places,- and more particularly to a guard for grates of the type described, and it consists in the combination, constructionv and arrangement herein described and claimed.

A further object of my invention is to provide a guard of simplified construction which can be applied to or detached from agrate of ordinary construction without any changes in the construction of the latter being required and without. the use of any special tools. 7

A further object of my invention is to provide a guard which, when operatively applied to a grate, will extend above the plane of the grate and serve to prevent pieces of fuel from falling from the grate as well as protecting the clothing and person of children and others from the burning fuel within the grate. a

A further object of my invention is to pro? vide a guard of the character described which can be swung in advance of the grate and at one side thereof at will to permit of' the replenishing of the supply of fuel within the grate.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description and the novel features of the invention will be particularly outlined in the appended claims.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this application, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of a grate equipped with my invention,

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1, showing the embodiment of the invention in open or outwardly swung position in respect to the grate to which applied,

.iFigure 3 is an. enlarged perspective view of a clevis comprised in the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the preceding views, and

Figure at is a section along thelme 4-4 of Figure 1.

Referring now to the drawings, in which the same reference characters are used to designate like parts throughout the several views, a grate of conventional construction is indicated generally at 1. The grate 1 includes a plurality of spaced forwardly curved horizontal bar portions, such as those indicated at 2, 3 and 4 respectively, as is I common in the art to which relates. 1

In carrying my invention into effect, I provide a substantially U-shaped frame comprising a web portion 5 and sides or arms 6 and 7 respectively. The frame is by preference formed integrally or as a unit from any suitable material, such as cast iron. The web portion. 5 is curved forwardly to conform in curvature with the horizontal bars of the grate and is of substantially the same length as the horizontal bars of the grate.

The webv portion 5 is merged at its opposite ends into the arms or side portions 6 and 7 by oppositely curved half loop por-- tions 8. and 9 respectively, whereby the arm portions 6 and 7 extend substantially in parallelism and at right angles to the plane of the web portion- 5.

my invention The'side arm portion. 6 is offset forwardly i at an appreciable distance from its end, thereby defining a shoulder 10. The offset end portion of the side or arm 6 is .jour

naled i-n vertically aligned openings 11 and 12 through'the respectivesides of a clevis 13 which is adapted to embracethe hori-.

zontal. bar 2..of the grate, whereby the shoulder 10 rests upon the upper side of the clevis andzthe. offset portionofthe side .or

arm 6 b ears'against the horizontal bar .3. g

It will be understood that the clevis is applied to the uppermost of. the horizontal bars of a grate and that the offset portion of the side of the frame bears adjacent to its end against one or more .ofthe lower horizontal bars,pwhereby the frame is braced while permitted to swing about the axis of the oflset portion.

It is desirable that means he provided for bar of the grate and to thus releasably hold the frame of the guard against movement about the axis of the offset portion of the arm 6. The guard frame is preferably made of a material having sufficient inherent resiliency to cause the upper bar of the grate to be frictionally engaged by the forked portions 16 and 17 when the guard frame has been moved to theposition in which illustrated in Figures 1 and 4:, although it is not essential to my invention that the guard frame be formed of a material having spring quality, since the weight thereof will in service hold the :forked portions 16 and 17 in straddling relation to the upper bar of the grate.

The arms or side portions 6 and 7 of the guard frame are connected below the plane of theweb portion 5 by a plurality of spaced transverse members, each of which in the embodiment of the invention illustrated comprises an elongated loop 18 having the sides thereof extending substantially in parallelism with each other and with the web portion 5 the sides of the loop being curved forwardly to conform in curvature with that of the web portion 5 and being secured to the sides or arms 6 and 7 adjacent to the opposite ends of the elongated loop in any suitable known manner, as by being welded thereto. From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device the operation thereof may be readily understood. When the guard has been swung into the position in which illustrated in Figure 1 and is held in this position by the engagement of the catch portion of the arm 7 with the upper horizontal bar of the grate,. the possibility that burning coals or like burning fuel may be dislodged from the grate and fall from the top thereof is precluded. Moreover, the guard serves as a barrier for preventing small children from falling upon the grate or into contact with the burning fuel Within the grate and in addition will prevent the clothing of persons passing close to the grate from cominginto contact with the flame. The guard maybe swung from the position in which illustrated in Figure 1 to the position in which illustrated in Figure 2 to permit access to the grate in order that fuel may be placed thereon, or for any other reason. In order to releasably secure the guard in the position in which illustrated in Figure 1, it is only necessary that the free end thereof shall be raised until the forked portions 16 and 17 canbe lowered into straddling relation to the upper horizontal bar 2.

It will be understood that the guard embodying my invention will be made in different sizes for application to grates of different sizes and that my invention is susceptible of embodiment in forms other than that in which illustrated without departing ea ine from the spirit and scope of the invention as disclosed herein. 1 therefore consider as my own, all adaptations and modifications of the form of the device disclosed herein which fairly fall within the scope of the invention as claimed.

1 claim 1. A. guard for a grate comprising a substantially ll-shaped frame having a web portion curved to conform incurvature with the horizontal portion of the grate, and arms extending substantially in parallelism with each other and at right angles to the plane of the web portion, one of said arms being offset adjacent to its end, and the other of said arms being bent back upon itself and then downwardly adjacent to its end to provide forks adapted to straddle a portion of the grate at the upper edge of the latter, and a clevis adapted to embrace the upper portion of the grate and having sides projecting in advance of the grate and being formed with aligned openings therethrough adapted to receive the offset portion of the first arm of said frame. l

2. A guard for a grate comprising a substantially ill-shaped frame having a web portion curved to conform in curvature with the horizontal portion of the grate, and arms extending substantially in parallelism with each other and at right angles to the plane of the web portion, one of said arms being offset adjacent to its end, and the other of said arms being bent back upon itself and then downwardly adjacent to its end to provide forks adapted to straddle a portion of the grate at the upper edge of the latter, a clevis adapted to embrace the upper portion of the grate and having sides projecting in advance of the grate and being formed with aligned openings therethrough adapted to receive the offset'portion of the first arm of said frame, and a plurality of spaced transverse members connecting the sides of said frame below the plane of the web portion of the latter and above the plane of the grate.

3. A guard for a grate comprising a substantially U-shaped frame having a web portion curved to conform in curvature with the horizontal portion of the grate, and arms extending substantially in parallelism with each other and at right angles to the plane of the web portion, one of said arms being offset adjacent to its end, and the other of said arms being bent back upon itself and then downwardly adjacent to its end to provide forks adapted to straddle a portion of the grate at the upper edge of the latter, a clutch adapted to embrace the upper portion of the grate and having sides projecting in advance of the grate and being formed with aligned openings therethrough adapted to receive the offset portion of the first arm of said frame, and a plurality of spaced transverse members connecting the sides of said frame below the plane of the web portion of the latter and above the plane of the grate, each of said last named transverse members having the form of an elongated loop and having the sides thereof secured to the sides of the frame adjacent to the 0pposite end of the loop and substantially in parallelism with the web portion of the frame.

4. A guard for grates comprising a substantially U-shaped frame having a horizontal web portion and depending arms, one of said arms being formed adjacent to its extremity to provide a journal, a elevis having arms adapted to embrace the bar of the grate and being apertured to receive the journal portion of the said arm of the frame to support the frame at one end thereof, and a cross member extending between the arms of the frame.

5. A guard for grates comprising a substantially U-shaped frame having a horizontal web portion and depending arms, one of said arms being offset adj aeent to its extremity to provide a journal, and a clevis having portions adapted to embrace a bar of the grate and being apertured to receive the journal portion of the said arm of the frame.

6. A guard for grates comprising a sub stantially U-shaped frame having a horizontal web portion and depending arms, one of said arms being offset adjacent to its extremity and formed to provide a journal, the other of said arms being bent adjacent to its extremity to provide forks adapted to straddle the top bar of a grate, and a bearing for the ournal portion of said first arm, said bearing being adapted to be detachably secured to said grate.

WILLIAM SANFORD BOARD. 

